Thursday, November 22, 2012

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Blonde Birds

On Earth-Two, a mother and daughter named Black Canary (both also named Dinah) each proved to be a mirror image of the other, much as would the Supermen or Batmen or Wonder Women of their world and that of Earth-One. Only they weren't counterparts, as their true cosmic twins of that parallel planet were themselves beautiful birds knows as Lady Blackhawk and Silver Swan. Tragedy was the eventuality each of this fabulous foursome. The first to appear on Earth-One was Zinda Blake, who had aspired to join the Blackhawk Squadron as their first female member, only to be stuck with the status as an honorary member and then their brainwashed adversary. When she regained her sanity as a heroine once more, she was caught within the mist of time, disappearing in November 1968 in the Zero Hour event. Shortly thereafter, in August 1969, her twin the elder Black Canary perished defending Earth-Two from the evil Aquarius, although Dinah had lived a longer life than Zinda.

However, in a last act of desperation, the dying heroine passed along her memories to her long-lost comatose daughter, herself stranded in the adjacent Thunderbolt Dimension for decades. Becoming the second Black Canary and believing herself to be her mother, she joined the Justice League as she traveled to their universe, one that no longer had her mother's twin Zinda. And for scant years, the Canary would carve out her own life in costume and as the civilian Dinah Lance. Eventually, she would be motivated to repeatedly travel to her native Earth-Two to rejoin her (actually her mom's) former compatriots of the Justice Society of America. Around the time of one such occasion, the void she left behind on Earth-One was filled by that of Helen Alexandros, an aspiring ballerina stymied from living her dream due to her unattactive appearence. When she was granted beauty, along with a sonic cry that echoed Dinah's Canary Cry, Helen became one of Wonder Woman's most dangerous enemies, the Silver Swan! Only she failed twice to defeat her Amazonian adversary, and so lost her power. While fellow foe Doctor Psycho granted her superpowers once more, it was the Swan's vanity that led to her demise... leaving a void once more filled by her doppleganger, the second Black Canary.

As for the original Black Canary of Earth-Two, she lived decades longer than her counterpart on Earth-One, that being Lady Blackhawk who was taken to a Post-Crisis Earth following Zero Hour. So mama Canary's extra years on her world balanced those of her daughter on Earth-One. And the cosmic balance was once more restored, as always it is through triumph or tragedy...